In the pursuit of the Foundation's primary goal of, "...opening minds to open public local access networks", it must FIRST establish a public profile and mutually supporting relationship with various key constituencies. This starts with YOU - and the many other individuals around the world who already espouse the fundamental and underlying principles of the OPLAN concept and who wish to show their support for the work of the Foundation. We invite you to become a Founding Supporter of the OPLAN Foundation.

Preparing the ground

The Directors of the Foundation are already well advanced with the essential ground breaking tasks which include:

• making application for charitable status
• establishing contact with as many as possible of the existing OPLANs (or groups representing OPLANs) around the world and appraise them of the Foundation and its work and establish on-going links
• appointing individuals as the Foundation's ambassador/representative in as many countries around the world as possible
• working with www.ergomedia.de in Berlin, on the development of a substantial web-based presence and community to be the Foundation's primary physical public manifestation

Ongoing programme of activities of the OPLAN Foundation

Once the above preparation has been completed and the Foundation has been successfully established in the public arena, it will be able to focus on planning and executing a series of programmes and initiatives in succeeding months. Planning of the Year 2+ programme with the help of www.ergomedia.de and www.cmpcommunications.com are key tasks for the first year and need to be developed against the rapidly evolving political, technical and commercial environment. Without second guessing at this early stage what the Foundation's programme will be, there are already many activities and concepts being discussed and researched by the Directors.

• secure major speaking engagements e.g. World Economic Forum (Davos), Stanford Innovation Summit
• development and circulation of simple educational material for schools (multi-language translations)
• focussed targeting of civic leaders and local government organisations to appraise them of OPLAN benefits
• targeted conference for property developers and housing associations encouraging ab initio OPLAN development
• political briefings and lobbying wherever major changes in telecoms regulation are imminent
• positioning the Foundation with major broadcasters and media as the independent and informed commentator of choice
• creating news and feature stories with strong 'human content' (not technical) around OPLAN developments worldwide
• promoting and publicising OPLAN exemplars around the world of all types as and when they arise
• taking a head-on, no holds barred, stance against vertically integrated telcos opposing OPLAN developments
• where appropriate, supporting OPLANs in defending any legal challenge
• holding 'invitation only' conferences and briefing sessions for industrial leaders and opinion formers
• building an accessible database of OPLAN experiences and identifiable socio-economic benefits
• acquiring strategic fibre infrastructure to be made openly available on OPLAN principles on self-sustaining terms